1. Field
One or more aspects of the present invention relate to magnet transportation systems for increasing usage efficiency of a sputtering target, a sputtering apparatus including the magnet transportation systems, and sputtering methods.
2. Description of the Related Technology
A sputtering system generally includes a loading/unloading chamber for forming an atmospheric pressure and a vacuum in order to buffer an atmospheric pressure. The system also includes a vacuum so that a substrate may be moved between a chamber at an atmospheric pressure and a chamber in a vacuum. A sputtering system also includes a sputtering chamber, a heating chamber and a transfer chamber. The sputtering chamber typically includes a sputtering substrate for forming a thin film such as a metal film on a substrate. The heating chamber is typically used for preliminarily heating the substrate in order to increase the characteristic of the thin film and the uniformity of the thin film prior to the forming of the thin film on the substrate. The transfer chamber is usually used for moving the substrate, by using a robot.
A sputtering process for forming the thin film on the substrate is performed in a sputtering apparatus included in the sputtering chamber. In the sputtering process, a target material is typically generated from a sputtering target by a magnetic field generated from a magnet member. During the sputtering process, when the sputtering target is eroded, an edge portion of the sputtering target is more eroded than a central portion of the sputtering target due to the reciprocating magnet member, and thus a usage efficiency of the sputtering target is remarkably reduced.